Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company

Having worked with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company for almost 25 years (1985-2009), we were integral to the development and growing visibility of the company. It was a heady experience to create the alchemy for the front page stories the company achieved in The New York Times Arts & Leisure, and equally exciting to find ways to secure profiles in the New Yorker, New York Magazine, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Newsweek, Time Magazine (He was on the cover), two different features on CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, work with the producers at Bill Mahear’s Real Time, the Charlie Rose Show, etc. Drop dead handsome, ferociously talented, and fearlessly articulate, Bill has always been a media magnet, but there were also serious challenges that resulted from the attention he attracted. Dealing with resentments, jealousy and Bill’s fearless public speaking became an inevitable and challenging part of the job. Working with him required being alert 24 hours a day, at the ready with a public relations first aid kit.

Bill’s six-pack abs are legendary and something that is not unnoticed by him. In August 2005, Bill was in his final round of interviews for a The New York Times Arts & Leisure story for a new work he was readying for Peak Performances. The Times hinted that it was slated for page one of the Sunday section. The photographer was setting up; Bill was pacing, apparently deep in thought. He stopped short mid-studio. “Hey, do you think I should leave my tee shirt on (it was skin tight) or be bare-chested?” I weighed the options, knowing which he would prefer. “What if you are shot bare-chested, but wear your glasses,” I suggested. And that Sunday, there was the wall-to-wall front page, top of the fold photo of a bare-chested Bill T. Jones in glasses.